


Woods in Winter

by elestaus



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 04:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10756938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elestaus/pseuds/elestaus
Summary: Hella goes after a friend.





	Woods in Winter

Hella followed the trail of disturbed snow deeper into the trees. The person ahead of her had left more of a path than was usual for someone on their own, forcing their way through drifts it would have taken less effort to walk around, as if they saw the obstruction as a personal affront.

It made the going easier for Hella, at least. She caught up with Adaire in a small clearing not far from the one where they’d had their meeting with Twinbrook's newly appointed trade representative. No sooner had she stepped into the open than she felt a dead branch snap under her foot, loud and unmistakable in the otherwise silent woods, and Adaire wheeled to face her. Hella stopped purely on instinct; Adaire might not be a trained fighter, but even a milkmaid could pose a threat when they looked at you like that.

“Did you see what he did as he was leaving?” Adaire snarled, practically spitting in anger. “Who even owns a watch like that? I should have killed him. Just fucking run him through from behind.”

Hella had to fight the temptation to laugh now that she understood the cause of Adaire's fury. Sure, their negotiations with Saul hadn’t gone exactly to plan, but she must have underestimated how much personal stake Adaire had in the outcome.

“Are you trying to impress me?” she asked.

“No,” Adaire said, making a visible effort to compose herself, “and I’m not joking either. You don’t last long in this business if you let people take advantage of you.”

“What, the amateur map-making business?” It was silly to play dumb, but Hella couldn’t resist.

“You know what I mean,” Adaire shot back. “It’s why I put up with Lardewulf. Sorry, the Lardewulf. Reputation is everything when you live or die by what your contacts are willing to do for you. Let one watch-twirling fuck walk away after screwing you over and who knows how many others might get it into their heads to do the same?”

“So why didn’t you? Kill him, I mean,” Hella asked. Restraint wasn’t something she put much stock in, as a rule, and it sounded like a good case to her.

“That’s just what I’ve been asking myself,” Adaire sighed, pausing to pull herself up onto a snow-covered log that lay at an angle between two trees. “Lord knows it would have been easy enough. Hadrian was there though. And Red Jack. I’m not sure how our bandit king would have reacted, but church boy probably wouldn’t have been too happy to see me stab a man in the back.”

“Probably not,” Hella admitted.

Adaire remained where she was on the fallen log, looking more dejected than angry now as flakes of snow settled on her hair. Surprisingly, Hella felt moved to offer some form of reassurance.

“Well hey. If we run into him again, maybe I can save you the trouble,” she said, and patted her sword in case there was any doubt as to what she meant.

Adaire didn’t ask if she was serious. Instead of responding, she climbed down from the log, brushed the snow from her skirt, and stood on her toes in front of Hella to kiss her. For her part, Hella was too stunned to immediately react, and Adaire had pulled away again before she could even think of reciprocating.

“Don’t worry,’ Adaire said with a smile. “I’ll handle Saul. The world’s too small for him to avoid me forever. I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to hold him down for me, though.”

“Sure,” Hella said, still reeling from the unexpected kiss; weren’t either of them going to acknowledge it? “I’ve been picking up the others’ slack since the beginning. You make a good addition to the crew.”

There was that smile again. Adaire turned and vanished into the trees, humming contentedly as she went. The surrounding woods all the looked the same to Hella, but she knew she only had to follow Adaire’s trail to find her way back to the moth village.

Adaire always knew what she was doing.


End file.
